Method, apparatus and system for providing access to product data

ABSTRACT

VISUAL IMAGE MARKETING (VIM) is a system whereby the visual image on a film or television program is utilized to market that specific product. In VIM, film.backslash.television is combined with computer technology to provide real-time or delayed access to product data. Viewers identify a product or object displayed in a video, television show or movie and by merely pointing and clicking on the object to obtain marketing and other data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/503,918 filed Oct. 1, 2014, which is a continuation applicationof U.S. application Ser. No. 13/023,657, filed Feb. 9, 2011, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,856,830, which is a continuation application of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/885,067, filed Jul. 7, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No.7,899,705, which is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 09/961,392, filed Sep. 25, 2001, which is a nonprovisionalapplication and claims benefit of the filing date of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/234,981, filed Sep. 25, 2000, the contents of each ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference. This application is also acontinuation of application Ser. No. 14/728,956 filed Jun. 2, 2015,which is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No.14/503,918 filed Oct. 1, 2014, which is a continuation application ofU.S. application Ser. No. 13/023,657, filed Feb. 9, 2011, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,856,830, which is a continuation application of U.S. applicationSer. No. 10/885,067, filed Jul. 7, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,705,which is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No.09/961,392, filed Sep. 25, 2001, which is a nonprovisional applicationand claims benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/234,981, filed Sep. 25, 2000, the contents of each of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method, system and apparatus foraccessing product data that is displayed or otherwise shown on visualdisplays, including, but not limited to, televisions, movies, personalcomputers, personal digital assistants (PDA) and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditional forms of marketing and advertisement have primarily reliedon commercials. Thirty or sixty-second spots are strategically placedthroughout programs. Through the use of demographics and other well knowmarketing methods advertisements are shown during programs in hopes ofattracting purchasers. New technology, including new VCR recordingdevices, make it increasingly easy for viewers to discard thecommercials. As viewers become accustomed to movies on demand oradvertising free content, which is made at least in part possible by theInternet, the reliance on traditional commercial advertising is nolonger ideal.

Movies, which lack the ability to stop and play a commercial, havebypassed the use of commercials through the use of product placements.Products are strategically placed in a movie, often for a predeterminedprice, such that the viewers will notice the product and want topurchase it. Well-known examples of product placements include BMW'splacement of automobiles and motorcycles in several of the James Bondfilms. The problem that occurs is that absent blatant product placementsthat make the viewer aware of the product, its maker and where it may bepurchased, product placement adverting is limited. Although it may beapplied to traditional television programs, its applicability islimited. Products that do not have immediate visual cues as to maker,name and model are not well suited for product placement use.

Industry has tried to marry the Internet with traditional forms ofadvertising by placing banner ads in shows. As predetermined by theshow's producer, web links may appear in which the user is directed togo to the link if background information is desired. Banner ads havebeen primarily used for background information and have not been used asadvertisements. Banner ads do not provide effective advertisements, asthey require visual interruptions.

The present invention solves this and other problems by providing aunique method of creating a dynamic product placement database that canbe accessed in real-time or on a delayed basis, and provides the viewerwith key marketing information about a specific product. In doing so,the need for commercials that interrupt a program is reduced andincreased revenue can be recognized by groups producing and displayingprograms.

VISUAL IMAGE MARKETING (VIM) is a system whereby the visual image on afilm or television program is utilized to market that specific product.In VIM, film\television is combined with computer technology to providereal-time or delayed access to product data. Viewers identify a productor object displayed in a video, television show or movie and by merelypointing and clicking on the object to obtain marketing and other data.

One embodiment the present invention is integrated into a set-top boxthat provides access to programs that are specially designed to workwith VIM as well as access to programs which were subsequentlycatalogued so as to work with VIM. A user is permitted to watch a movieand with the use of a selection device, which may include a mouse,highlight a product. The user is then provided with selected marketingdata associated with that product. For example, if the user is watchinga sitcom and likes the shirt that the main character is wearing, theuser can click on the shirt as it appears in real-time and obtaininstantaneous marketing data.

In another embodiment, a database is created that can be accessed on adelay basis. The database contains search items, such as show name,character name, approximate time into program, article description,etc., which may be used to facilitate retrieval of market data.

It is expressly contemplated that the present invention may be operatedeither in conjunction with the displaying of video, such as atelevision, or that it may be separately provided. In addition, it isexpressly contemplated that the Internet, satellite networks or othernetworking technology may be used to facilitate access to the productdatabase.

By providing access to marketing information on virtually all of theitems displayed in a video, television show, movie or the like, the needfor commercials is reduced, viewers have access to increased marketinginformation and additional revenues sources may be realized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention is described with reference to the followingfigures:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a television and computerimplementation;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a set-top box implementation;

FIG. 3 is a description of one method for processing video data;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of one embodiment for location of objects on avideo screen which uses an invisible overlay;

FIG. 5 is a schematic of a video screen that has marketing dataretrieved; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic of a marketing database.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of one type of edge detection system.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are exemplary ATM AAL arrangements for transportingvideo data.

FIGS. 9A-9C is an exemplary embodiment of a playback system based onSony's SDDS system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE CLAIMED INVENTION AND OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT

The present invention may be implemented using a variety of hardware.The present invention is preferably designed so that it is usable with avariety of different hardware configurations. Homes containing atraditional television and computer may utilize the VIM database,whereas homes that have an integrated television-VIM apparatus mayaccess real-time marketing data as well as delayed data.

1. Hardware

As shown in FIG. 1, a television 1 is provided in a household that isdesigned to receive traditional television images through an input 2. Acomputer 3, which may comprise a personal computer a PDA or otherdigital assistant, is provided that has access to a database 5 throughuse of network 4. The network 4 may comprise the Internet, a phone linewith dial in access, wireless network or other suitable means. Thedatabase has an input 2 for television data, which may be in the form ofVIM processed visual data or unprocessed data, i.e. a traditionaltelevision input.

An alternate hardware configuration is shown in FIG. 2. A computingdevice 10, which those of ordinary skill in the art will understand toinclude a processor and storage device, is connected to a video terminal11. The computing device 10 may comprise a traditional PC with a videoinput and tuner capabilities such that the personal computer can displaytelevision images. Preferably, the computing means is a dedicatedcomputing device comprising a processor and memory that can be connectedto a tradition television. The computing means is provided with aselector device 13, which may include a mouse, a remote control devicehaving selector capabilities or the like. The computing device 10 may beconnected to the database 5 through the use of the Internet, telephonelines, satellite network, wireless network and other well known means.The computing device also receives a television input 2, which may beprovide separately from the database access.

2. Method of Selecting Objects

The present invention combines the ability to visually select items thatare displayed. In a preferred embodiment the video is digitally recordedsuch that pixel data can be recorded that corresponds to each item forwhich marketing data will be available. Information on the objects in avideo may be recorded on the side of the film traditionally used forsound data. Alternatively, the object information may recorded on aninterleaved into or between one of the 30 frames per second which makeup a video such that the computing means may retrieve the data while theviewer does not notice the data transmission.

In another invention, the video is scanned by an object extractiondevice and the object data is provided either in toto or in an as neededbasis to the computing means. The object extraction device may on itsmost simple level include an overlay screen under which video plays. Theoverlay screen is divided into X and Y coordinates and used to mark theposition of objects in the video. Object location and time data isrecorded and made available to the computing means.

As shown in FIG. 3, objects may be extracted from an existing televisionshow using known shapes of objects. A television program in input 12 andknown visual outlines are retrieved 14. The visual outlines may bestored based on individual shows or other grouping methods. For example,all products in a given show may be provided by a given company. Thus,all outlines for soda cans, will be determined to correspond to the sodaof the given company. Consistent branding over an entire show, permitsthe visual recognition of products to be simplified and also assists inincreasing the advertising worth of the product placement. It isexpressly contemplated that where sufficient variations exist in productshape and color that individual brands can be identified.

As the show is run 16, the images on the show are compared to the knownoutlines. Known methods of digital signal processing, such as throughthe use of wavelet filtering, may be used to assist in outlinerecognition. It is expressly contemplated that the show may be runthrough the process several times using a variety of known filteringtechniques to assist in identifying products and their placement 18.

The present system is also designed, however, to work with existingvideo. In one such embodiment, a video grid overlay is used, as shown inFIGS. 4 a-c. A grid 22 is established over the display 20 so as torecord the placement as a function of time, of objects 24. The grid datais stored in database 5, in combination with product information andsearch data.

As shown in FIG. 5, when a user selects a item though the use of aselection device 25, the system searches the grid coordinates beingselected as a function of program time, and displays appropriatemarketing information 26.

Upon selection of an object, the computing means retrieves predeterminedmarketing data. The type of marketing data may vary with the show, time,expected demographics, and the like.

3. VIM Demo

By way of example only, a VIM demo, also known as the diamond headproject, has been created using a prerecorded video on a dedicated PCplatform. The present invention is not limited to the VIM democonfiguration and features. Rather, one possible embodiment has beenimplemented in the VIM demo to assist in describing the VIM apparatusand method. The demo was created to run on a stand-alone PC, although itis expressly contemplated that the VIM computing means may beincorporated into a set-top box or into a television.

In the demo the ASF file format was used. ASF is a file format thatstores audio and video information and is specially designed to run overnetworks like the Internet. It is a highly flexible and compressedformat that contains streaming audio, video, slide shows, andsynchronized events.

The compelling feature of Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) streams isthat they can deliver script commands to the Microsoft® Windows MediaTPlayer control, along with the audio and video streams. These scriptcommands are pairs of UnicodeT strings synchronized with a particulartime in the multimedia stream. The first string identifies the type ofcommand being sent, and the second specifies the command to process.When the stream reaches the time associated with a command, the controlsends a ScriptCommand event to the web page which contains it. Anevent-handling routine can then respond to this event. The scriptcommand strings are passed to the event handler as parameters of theScriptCommand event.

These synchronized events are used in this project. The position(rectangular co-ordinates) of the car are stored in the ASF file and thedefinition of the car and the URL are also stored in the ASF file. Inthis project two global variables are used for the car position and forthe car description which are always updated by the event-handlerroutine. When a user, viewing the ASF file via a web browser or othermedia player, clicks in the car position it will show the prestoredmessage or goto the URL which are stored in the global variables.

The two files used by this project include:

i) index.htm (main program file)

ii) diamond.asf (an Advanced Streaming Format file which containscripts)

The Diamond.asf file is created by converting an AVI file. MicrosoftWindows Media Encoder has been used to this conversion. MicrosoftWindows Media Encoder is a component of “Windows Media Tools” which canbe downloaded form the following site:

http.//www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download/default.aspWindows Media Tools also has a component “Windows Media ASF Indexer”which is used to edit and create script commands in the Diamond.asf.Additional information concerning script commands can be found at theMSDN Libray—January 2000.fwdarw.Platform SDK.fwdarw.Graphics andMultimedia Services.fwdarw.Windows Media Player Control.fwdarw.Using theWindows Media Player Control.fwdarw.Processing Embedded Script Command

There are two types of user defined script commands that are used inDiamond.asf. One is “DHO” and other one is “DHC”. “DHO” is used for thedefinition of the object or the URL of the object. Here, at thebeginning of the parameter of “DHO” type script command, “URL” is usedto define that it is a URL and the value of the URL is follows by itwith a separator “.vertline.”.

In “DHC” type script command, values of the co-ordinates of the currentobject are kept in the parameter. In this exemplary embodiment, thecoordinate values that are kept are the upper-left corner of the objectand lower right corner of the object in sequence.

In Index.html, a “Windows Media Player” ActiveX control is used to viewthe diamond.asf file. The code is as follows:

  1 <HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Diamond Head</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY> <OBJECTID=″MediaPlayer1″ WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240 CLASSID=″CLSID:22D6f312- -B0F6-11D0-94AB- 0080C74C7E95″ TYPE=″application/x-oleobj- ect″> <PARAMNAME=″FileName″ VALUE=″diamond.asf″> <PARAM NAME=″ShowControls″VALUE=″False″> <PARAM NAME=″AutoRewind″ VALUE=″True″> <PARAMNAME=″AutoStart″ VALUE=″False″> <PARAM NAME=″SendMouseClickEvents″ VALUE= ″True″> <PARAM NAME=″AllowChangeDisplaySize″ VALUE = ″False″> <PARAMNAME=″ClickToPlay″ VALUE = ″False″> </OBJECT> <BR><BR> <INPUTTYPE=″BUTTON″ NAME=″BtnPlay″ VALUE=″Play″> <INPUT TYPE=″BUTTON″NAME=″BtnStop″ VALUE=″Stop″> <SCRIPT> <!— function displayWindow(url,width, height) { var Win = window.open(url,″displayWindow″, ′width=′ +width + ′,height=′ + height + ′,resizable=1,scrollbars=yes- ′); } //--></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE=″VBScript″> <!— DIM sObj, sCor DIM X1, Y1,X2, Y2 DIM tag, msg Sub BtnPlay_OnClick  MediaPlayer1.Play End Sub SubBtnStop_OnClick  MediaPlayer1.Stop  MediaPlayer1.CurrentPosition = 0 EndSub Sub MediaPlayer1_Click( iButton, iShiftState, fX, fY )  if fx>X1 andfx<X2 and fy>Y1 and fy<y2 then   tag = Split(sObj,″.vertline.″)(0)   msg= Split(sObj,″.vertline.″)(1)   if tag = ″MSG″ then    MsgBox msg,64  end if   if tag = ″URL″ then    displayWindow msg, 640, 480   end if end if End Sub Sub FindXY(sStr)  X1 = cint(Split(sStr,″ ″)(0))  Y1 =cint(Split(sStr,″ ″)(1))  X2 = cint(Split(sStr,″ ″)(2))  Y2 =cint(Split(sStr,″ ″)(3)) End Sub Sub MediaPlayer1_ScriptCommand(sType,sParam)  if sType = ″DHO″ then   sObj = sParam  end if  if sType = ″DHC″then   findXY(sParam)  end if End Sub ′ --> </SCRIPT> </BODY> </HTML>

In the above code, the MediaPlayer1_ScriptCommand(sType, sParam) is themethod which hooks the script_command event of media player. When ascript command is found from the diamond.asf this method executes and ifit is “DHO” type then the value of the parameter is saved in a stringtype variable. If the command is “DHC” type then it is saved in the fourvariables X1,Y1, X2,Y2 which are the coordinates of the rectangle inwhich the object resides.

If the user clicks on the view panel of the media player, then theMediaPlayer1_Click method is executed and if the mouse point is on therectangle of the object (i.e., the car), then the corresponding actionis triggered.

4. Product Database

An illustrative version of the marketing database 5 is shown in FIG. 6.Information that may be captured in the database, but which is notnecessarily required include:

Locating information, including, but not limited to: Show name; Airingdate; Channel; Length; Start time; End Time; Commercial breaks; Storyline information; Character information; or Products coordinates (X,Y).

Product Information, including but not limited to: Name; Distributor;Price; Link to store; Link to vendor web site; or versions based ondemographics. The database is designed to be accessible through theInternet or other known networks by all individuals, includingindividuals that do not have access computing means or other real-timeaccess methods. As shown in FIG. 6, the database 5 is connected to thenetwork 4, which may include the Internet, through the use of a NetscapeES server 30, for example. A computer 32 is provided that has access toshow data 33 and to marketing data 34. Although the data is shown asbeing stored in separate databases, it may be combined or separated asthose of ordinary skill in the art will recognize.

This increased accessibility permits requires that users who aremanually searching for the product information have sufficient showbased location data that permits them to reasonably locate the itemdesired.

For example, if a viewer sees a lamp in the living room scene of asit-com and wants to get more information. The viewer can access thedatabase that is connected to the Internet. The viewer may identify theshow name, the date of viewing, the channel the program was seen on andenter the word lamp. If there are too many lamps, the user may alsospecify that the lamp was during the first half of the show or after thefirst commercial break. The user may indicate that the lamp or productwas seen within the first 5-10 minutes of the show.

It is expressly contemplated that once the user retrieves an item, asshown in FIG. 5, the user is provided with the option to see similarproducts displayed during the show, or in different episodes, or similarproducts offered by the same vendor. As the user views differentobjects, marketing data may be collected that can be used to assist infuture product placement.

5. Acquiring the Image and Object Location Data

The present invention contemplates a variety of functionally equivalentways to identify the market-related items and their respective locationsin a sequence of video or movie frames. These different techniques foridentifying the products' locations can be used individually or incombination with one another. While an individual can manually reviewimages and identify products within these images, the present inventionalso relies on automated methods so that someone is not required toidentify the region of each image that corresponds to each product.

Conventional image capturing electronics and cameras include technologywith digital signal processing already built into the camera (e.g., CCDimage sensors). Alternatively, the image processing capability can beprovided by equipment parallel to the image capturing functionality ofthe camera so that both occur relatively simultaneously. Similarly, anyimage processing could also occur subsequent to the image capture. Usingthis last alternative, previously acquired film and video can beprocessed to identify product related regions even if not originallycaptured by appropriately configured cameras and equipment.

One particular image-region identification technique contemplated by thepresent invention uses an infrared camera located at a predeterminedlocation to capture the same scene as a more traditional camera. Becausethe infrared camera is at a known location relative to the conventionalcamera, the infrared-image can be easily coordinate-transformed onto thevisible image to identify those regions of the image occupied by thevarious actors or other individuals. Another alternative technique,would be to use a camera having sensitivity in both the visible andinfrared range; in this alternative, no coordinate transforms arenecessary to locate image regions occupied by people that might bewearing or otherwise using products of interest.

Another technique for roughly identifying the location of items in animage is through the use of attached transponders for which a receiver(incorporated in the camera or operating in conjunction with the camera)can detect their location. This technique is similar in practice to thatused by video game designers to provide realistic animation. Athletes,or other participants, are outfitted with transponders on various bodylocations and then filmed while performing different physicalactivities. These films are then converted into animation that closelymimics the athlete's motion.

Another alternative for locating a product in an image is to use laserpointers similar to the technology of laser-guided ordnance. Duringfilming of a scene, a laser is targeted on a product, or products, andan appropriate receiver tracks that laser target during the scene so asto correspond with the product's location during the scene.Alternatively, later processing equipment could scan a previouslycaptured film for the laser target information to identify objects ofinterest.

Regardless of the technique or technology used to capture a video imagecomposed of various items which will eventually have marketinginformation associated therewith, virtually any conventional imageprocessing and recognition method can be used to automate theidentification of the separate items within the sequence of images.

Using conventional contour representation, the contour of a region or ofan object within an image can be described as one of several compactrepresentations that facilitate manipulation of the object. Examples ofconventional contour representations can include chain codes, crackcodes and run codes. These object outlines can be used individually orwith shape recognition software to easily identify which pixels withinan image correspond to different objects within the image.

One of ordinary skill will recognize an be able to apply considerationssuch as smoothing (or filtering) operations, pixel size and formation,camera sampling rates, and aspect ratio all play a role in accuratelyidentifying those regions of an image that correspond to a particularobject.

Other alternatives for segmenting an image into regions of interest canrely on such techniques as color (or chromaticity) regions. Using thissegmenting method a viewer can be permitted to query for a “yellowsweater” or a “red car” and appropriate regions of the image will bedetected and the VIM information associated therewith will be madeavailable to the viewer.

Other image processing methods can include segmentation thresholding oredge finding. FIG. 7 illustrates a general system, as is known in theart, for determining the various edges of items within an image. Animage a[m,n] has applied thereto a well known type of zero-crossingfilter 702 and a zero-crossing detector 704. The results are multipliedby an edge strength filter 706 and subjected to thresholding 708 inorder to identify one or more edges[m,n].

Regardless of the techniques or methods used, the end result is a numberof regions are identified in each image that correspond to a particularproduct which has associated marketing information. This marketinginformation can be made available to a viewer who, when viewing thesequence of images, selects a particular region of the viewing screen.When a region is selected the associated object is identified whoselocation coincides with the selected region and then this objectidentification information is used to search and retrieve appropriatemarketing information from a database of information.

6. Distributing VIM Data

There are a variety of methods in which the video images, the objectlocation information and the marketing information database can bedistributed to viewers. In particular, HDTV is one current distributiontechnique, utilizing terrestrial as well as satellite transmitters, thathas available bandwidth for auxiliary information in addition to thedigitally encoded image data. This auxiliary information such as itemidentifiers and item pixel ranges in each image frame can, thus, bedistributed to a viewer's equipment (e.g., television, computer, orvideo terminal) having an appropriate decoder for separating theauxiliary information from the image data.

Alternatively, if the video data is transmitted via MPEG-2, for example,over ATM, the additional information about the various items and theirpixel locations can be included through the use of the adaptation layerof the cell-based transport. As known to those of ordinary skill, inorder to carry data units other than the 48-octet payload size in ATMcells, an adaptation layer is needed. The ATM Adaptation layer (AAL)provides for segmentation and reassembly of higher-layer data units anddetection of errors in transmission. For digital televisiontransmission, the MPEG-2 transport standard is the conventional formatbeing considered and both AAL1 and AAL5 have been used as a design forpackaging digital video. FIG. 8A illustrates AAL1 in which each MPEG-2transport stream packet 802 is mapped into 4 ATM cells 804. FIG. 8Bdepicts an AAL5-based approach in which n MPEG-2 single programtransport stream packets 810 are mapped into an AAL5 service data unit(SDU) 812 unless there are fewer than n transport stream packets left inthe sequence; with n=2 being typical. In the case in which there arefewer than n packets left, the last AAL5 SDU contains all the remainingpackets. When n=2, the SDU size is 376 bytes which, along with an 8 bytetrailer fit evenly into payloads of 8 ATM cells 814 as shown in FIG. 8B.The auxiliary information can be transmitted over the ATM transport aspart of the MPEG-2 data or as an independent cell stream separate fromthe MPEG-2 sequence. In this latter instance, synchronizing informationcan be used in the separate ATM cell stream to associate auxiliaryinformation with the appropriate images of the MPEG-2 sequence.

Another possible alternative contemplated by the present inventionincludes image sequences that are captured on film. Film conventionallyincludes the image data made up of individual frames sequentiallyarranged along with audio tracks and other identifying data encoded onthe sides of the frames so as not to be interrupted by the film'ssprocket holes. The auxiliary VIM information about products and theirlocations within a frame can be encoded in one of the many audiochannels or other “track” areas on the sides of the film. An appropriateprojector is then used, upon displaying the film, to detect and decodethe auxiliary VIM information during the showing or playback of thefilm. Presented below is one exemplary embodiment which uses aparticular formatting and encoding sequence developed by Sony known asSDDS. However, one of ordinary skill would easily recognize that thepresent invention contemplates, and can be modified to include,variations that can involve track placement on the film,encoding/decoding algorithms, the number of encoded tracks, decodinghardware, etc.

The SDDS system developed by Sony can be modified to incorporate, orsubstitute, the features of the present invention. In particular in theSDDS system, as shown in FIG. 9A, a P-track and S-Track are added to thefilm 900 to encode digital sound information. In particular, data bitsare recorded on the film with black and white data patterns. In certainembodiments of SDDS, the information in the S-track and P-tracks areredundant. The present invention contemplates various embodiments thatcan utilizing both the S and P tracks to carry auxiliary productinformation or merely one of the tracks to carry auxiliary information.Thus, an SDDS enabled film projector system as shown in FIG. 9B,includes the necessary reading and decoding hardware and features toextract auxiliary information from a film source.

FIG. 9C illustrates one embodiment of an optical reader 912 that readsauxiliary information from both the S-track and P-track which is thendecoded by an VIM decoder 914. This exemplary reader depicts LEDs usedto illuminate the P and S tracks on the film. The results of thisillumination are focused by a respective lens onto an optical sensingdevice, such as a CCD, that detects the encoded data from a single lineof the tracks. The output from these line sensors are then forwarded toa decoder for further processing.

As mentioned above, but not illustrated, two decoders may be used, oneproviding conventional SDDS audio information and the other providingthe VIM information. Similar to an SDDS audio decoder, the VIM decoder914 will receive data from the reader 912, optionally perform some typeof error checking or error correcting, and then extract the VIMinformation for a number of different purposes that may includeinputting to a viewer's computer system, transmitting along with theimage frames, or some other similar use. If the original VIM informationencoded on the film is first compressed, then the VIM decoder 914 canalso include decompression hardware and software to retrieve thecompressed information before outputting the VIM information.

The present invention is not limited to the above describes examples andmay be modified as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in theart.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system using a computer, comprising: an inputfor receiving video content of a captured data; the video data comprisesa set of one or more frames; a device for selecting a region within thevideo data; and a place holder creator module for creating a placeholder within the video data; the place holder is created based on theselection of a region; the place holder is configured to enable aninsertion of information from a database of information to the videodata; the place holder is further configured to enable the insertionsuch that the information is consistent with an environment of the videodata; a computer for matching the information from the database ofinformation to the placeholder according to the content of the videodata.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the video content comprises morethan one frame.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein: the region isselected in an image frame; and the place holder creator moduledetermines the place holder in a set of frames comprising at least theimage frame in which the region is selected and another frame.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3 further comprising a tracking module for computingtracking data; the tracking data comprises tracking an area within aframe of the video data; the place holder creator module determines theplace holder according to the tracking data.
 5. The system of claim 3,wherein the place holder creator module determines the place holderaccording to a location identified by a camera.
 6. The system of claim2, wherein the place holder creator module utilizes a portion of theselection of the region in the image frame for inserting the informationinto the video data in a manner so as to be displayed to a useraccording to the video data.
 7. The system of claim 2 further comprisingan input for receiving processed data associated with the video data,including an identification associated with the place holder.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7 operationally coupled to a storage device for storingdata relating to the place holder.
 9. A system using a computer,comprising: an input for receiving processed data associated with avideo data of a captured video; the video data comprises a set of one ormore frames; the processed data comprises a place holder and anidentification; the identification is associated with the place holder;an interface to an information database comprising at least one piece ofinformation; a module for selecting information from the informationdatabase according to the processed data; the at least one piece ofinformation is designated to be inserted to a portion of the placeholder; wherein the at least one piece of information is designated tobe inserted to a portion of the place holder.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the place holder is configured to enable an insertion of the atleast one piece of information to a portion of the place holder; theplace holder is further configured to enable the insertion such that theat least one piece of information is consistent with an environment ofthe video data.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processed datacomprises a plurality of place holders.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the identification is associated with one place holder.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the place holder defines a first region in aframe of the video content, the first region being spaced from a secondregion in the frame.
 14. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least onepiece of information inserted into the video content is a URL.
 15. Thesystem of claim 9 further comprising a connection for sending the atleast one piece of information to a computing device.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, further comprising the computing device; the computing deviceis configured to display the video content and the at least one piece ofinformation.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the module forselecting information from the information database is configured suchthat, as a user views different objects, marketing data may be collectedthat can be used to assist in future product placement.
 18. The systemof claim 17, wherein the information varies with demographic informationregarding a user.
 19. A computerized system comprising: an input forreceiving video data of a captured video; the video data comprises a setof one or more frames; an input device for receiving input from a firstuser; a device for determining data associated with the video data; thedata associated with the video data comprises: a place holder defining aregion within a portion of the set of one or more frames; the region isbased on input received by the input device; an identificationassociated with the place holder; a database accessed by a computer forstoring the data associated with the video data; a network for sendingthe video content to a computing device; an information database; and acomputer for selecting a piece of information from the informationdatabase according to the place holder, the identification and thecomputing device.
 20. The computerized system of claim 19 wherein thecomputing displays the captured video and the selected piece ofinformation to a user; the selected piece of information is displayedaccording to the place holder.